Attachment Patterns and Separation Anxiety Symptom

www.ccsenet.org/ass Asian Social Science Vol. 6, No. 11; November 2010 Attachment Patterns and Separation Anxiety Symptom Sakineh Mofrad Department...
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Asian Social Science

Vol. 6, No. 11; November 2010

Attachment Patterns and Separation Anxiety Symptom Sakineh Mofrad Department of Human Development & Family Studies Faculty of Human Ecology, University of Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] Rohani Abdullah Department of Human Development & Family Studies Faculty of Human Ecology, University of Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] Ikechukwu Uba Department of Human Development & Family Studies Faculty of Human Ecology, University of Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Literature suggests that child attachment and anxiety symptoms are related. One purpose of the present study was to assess this relatedness, whether attachment patterns related differently to separation anxiety symptoms (fear of being alone, and fear of abandonment). Three attachment patterns assessed were secure, avoidant and ambivalent attachment. Findings indicate that ambivalent attachment was most consistently related with higher separation anxiety symptoms. And also, different associations were found between the three patterns of attachment and separation anxiety symptoms. In conclusion, responsive and supportive mothers were more dependable for the child’s health than non responsive mothers. Keywords: Attachment, Separation anxiety, Fear of being alone, Fear of abandonment 1. Introduction Separation anxiety is defined as a negative emotion or feeling like loneliness, lose or sadness experienced when children are separated from their attachment figure (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). The concept also refers to a developmental stage when children experience anxiety due to separation from a primary caregiver usually the mother (Spencer, 2006). Theoretically, separation anxiety in infants is a natural process in development, which helps their survival (Bowlby, 1969). Bowlby (1969) proposed that infants who experience separation from a caregiver demonstrate some behavior characteristics like crying, chasing and calling. The goal of these tantrums is to end separation and permit a return to close proximity with the caregiver. As a result of this intimacy seeking behaviors, infants increase their life chances. The development of the infant's caregiver directed separation protest, and contact-seeking behavior coincides with the development of the infant's attachment to his or her major caregivers (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). Therefore, the quality of an infant's attachment to major caregivers does not influence the development of separation anxiety, but it may influence the infant's separation protest behaviors and the child's ability to cope during separations. Insecurely attached infants may have increased or decreased levels of separation protest (Sroufe, Carlson, Levy, & Egeland, 1999). Bowlby (1973) explained that attachment, separation, and reunion responses are learned as infants develop. The scholar theorized that anxiety and the fear of abandonment are the driving forces behind attachment formation. Insecure attachment can often result when an attachment relationship is threatened, or the attachment figure is not consistently available. Bowlby (1969) proposed that children's level of anxiety might be affected, by the way, in which they are attached to their caregivers. Ambivalently attached children the scholar stated were constantly afraid of being alone and in danger, because their caregivers were unreliable concerning their needs (Bowlby, 1973;

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Asian Social Science

Vol. 6, No. 11; November 2010

Cassidy & Shaver, 1999; Kerns, Abraham, Schlegelmilch, & Morgan, 2007), whereas avoidant children learn not to expect comfort from their caregivers, thereby internalizing their distress, conflicting feeling, and confusion about their relationship (Greenberg, 1999). Pursuant to inconsistent and conflicting dyadic interaction, ambivalent children were usually overwhelmed by the constant anxiety of getting their needs met (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). On the other hand, according to etiological models of anxiety (Chorpita & Barlow, 1998), it is assumed that children with ambivalent attachment develop perceptions of autonomy that is impeded by parental difficulty, in times of separation. These types of children may perceive the environment as uncontrollable, based on their parents’ unpredictable behaviors. Parent’s dismissive behaviors are causes of avoidant attachment which leads to the development of negative self evaluation among children (Cassidy, 1999; Rohner, 2004). 2. Previous research Studies indicate that sense of security consisted of a set of expectations about availability and responsiveness to others in times of stress (Bar-Haim, Dan, Eshel, & Sagi-Schwartz, 2007; Bohlin, Hagekull, & Rydell, 2000; Dallaire & Weinraub, 2005). Secure attachment in infancy is considered to be a protective factor for later mental health, while insecure attachment is considered to be a risk factor for the development of psychopathology (Wenar & Kerig, 2000). McCartney, Owen, Booth, Clarke-Stewart and Vandell (2004) contend that secure base provides the child with comfort and basic trust, which enables the child to handle distress, and facilitate engagement behaviors like environmental exploration. Some researchers (Rohner, 2004; Rohner, Khaleque & Cournoyer, 2007) presuppose that insecure attachment (i.e. avoidant and ambivalent attachment) should be viewed as a risk factor for psychopathology. Although ambivalent attachment has been theoretically implicated in setting the stage for later development of anxiety disorders (Bowlby, 1973; Van-Emmichoven, Van-Ijzendoorn, DeRuiter, & Brosschot, 2003), supportive research data are surprisingly limited (Greenberg, 1999). The study by Bar-Haim et al. (2007) revealed that ambivalent attachment was not related to anxiety levels in a normal sample of children. 3. Objective The main objective of the present study is to discover which symptoms of separation anxiety were associated with avoidant and/or ambivalent attachment. 4. Methodology 4.1 Sample and procedure A sample of 120 children (54% boys and 55% girls) and their mothers were randomly selected from public school in Bushehr, a city of Iran to participate in the study. The age of the children as reported by the respondents, ranged from 6 to 8 years. All the children spoke Persian language at home and lived with their parents. The current study was explained to each child. The children were also encouraged to ask any question they may have about the study. All the children were interviewed in a private classroom for the purpose of completing the instruments. The interviewer read the questionnaire items loud and had each response recorded, so the reading ability of the children would not influence the child’s capacity to understand the question. 4.2 Measures Attachment Questionnaire-Child version (AQC): The AQC (Muris, Meesters, Merckelbach, & Hulsenbeck, 2000) is an age-downward adaptation of Hazan and Shaver (1987) instrument for measuring attachment patterns. The AQC is based on the assumption that attachment to a considerable extent defines affectionate relationships. This implies that one can infer attachment style from children and adolescents’ perception of close relationships. Respondents determine that each item fits their characteristic style in their relationship. The AQC consists of three descriptions that correspond with three basic patterns of attachment: 1- “I find it easy to become close friends with other children. I trust them and I am comfortable depending on them. I do not worry about being abandoned or about another child getting too close friends with me” (Secure attachment), 2- “I am uncomfortable to be close friends with other children. I find it difficult to trust them completely and difficult to depend on them. I get nervous when another child wants to become close friends with me. Friends often come more close to me than I want them to” (Avoidant attachment), 3- “I often find that other children do not want to get as close as I would like them to be. I am often worried that my best friend doesn’t really like me and wants to end our friendship. I prefer to do everything together with my best friend; however this desire sometimes scares other children away” (Ambivalent attachment). A previous study by Muris et al. (2001) provided support for the validity of the AQC. In the present study, the scales yielded high internal consistency of .89(secure), .93(avoidant) and .89(ambivalent). The mean alphas for the six sub-scales were 0.90 respectively.

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Separation Anxiety Assessment Scale- Child version (SAAS-C) is a 34-item measure designed to assess separation anxiety and related anxiety symptoms (Hahn, Hajinlian, Eisen, Winder, & Pincus, 2003). The frequency of symptoms extends from 1 (never) to 4 (all the time) this indicates the relative frequency of child’s problem behaviors. SAAS-C was designed to assess four key dimensions of separation anxiety which include fear of being alone (FBA; e.g., “How often are you afraid to sleep alone at night?”), fear of abandonment (FAB; e.g., “How often are you afraid to go on a play date at a new friend’s home?”), fear of physical illness (FPI; e.g., “How often are you afraid to go to school if you feel sick?”) and worry about calamitous events (WCE; e.g., “How often do you worry that bad things will happen to you?”) (Eisen & Schaefer, 2005). FBA and FAB are considered the avoidance dimension for separation anxiety. The FPI and WCE are considered the maintenance dimensions of the SAAS-C. For example, children may fear the physical sensation of nausea because of the potential consequence of vomiting. Children with separation anxiety experience frequent and intense somatic complaints (Last, 1991). The Cronbach’s alpha of the SAAS_C for each subscale of FBA, FAB, FPI, and WCE were 0.93, 0.90, 0.83, and 0.82 respectively. Mean alpha for the four sub-scales were 0.86 in the current study. 5. Results SPSS was used to calculate mean scores, and standard deviations. Correlations were computed to examine the significant association between attachment pattern and separation anxiety symptoms in children. Regression analysis was used to find the significant predictor of child’s separation anxiety dimension. The mean and standard deviation for separation anxiety scale was M=75.6, SD=12.6, secure attachment was M=1.5, SD=.14, avoidant M=1.2, SD=.25 and ambivalent M=1.2, SD=.29. When the final distribution of children attachment classification was determined, it proved that a proportionate number of children fell into the three attachment categories secure (57%), avoidant (15%), and ambivalent (28%). Based on SAAS-C cut point with regard to separation anxiety symptoms, the children were classified into two groups. Results indicated that 35% of the children displayed symptoms of separation anxiety. More so, the findings revealed that 59.5% of the children who showed separation anxiety symptom were ambivalent, 26.5% were avoidant, and 14 % were securely attached. Pearson Product correlation was conducted to test this relationship. As depicted in Table 1 there was a negative correlation between children separation anxiety and securely attached children (r=-0.66, p

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